Orange and EDGE in the UK

[Guest SkUk21]

there seems to be a general consensus that Orange have not and will not deploy EDGE in the UK. this is actually incorrect.

EDGE has been rolled out to hundreds of sites within the UK. Currently it is active and undergoing trials in the South West UK. Trials have been successful and a full UK launch will happen at some stage.

So the general thinking of the M3000 not being launched in the UK as the UK does not have EDGE is incorrect.

[Guest leshemnoam]

there seems to be a general consensus that Orange have not and will not deploy EDGE in the UK.  this is actually incorrect.

EDGE has been rolled out to hundreds of sites within the UK. Currently it is active and undergoing trials in the South West UK. Trials have been successful and a full UK launch will happen at some stage.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

do you have an Estimated launch date (are we talking 2006/7 or 2020?)

So the general thinking of the M3000 not being launched in the UK as the UK does not have EDGE is incorrect.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

do you happen to know why the m3000 isn't being launched in the uk?

[Guest SkUk21]

the answer is no to both i'm afraid!

i dont know of a lauch date or why the m3000 is not being released.

i will however try and find out.

cheers

[Guest leshemnoam]

the answer is no to both i'm afraid!

i dont know of a lauch date or why the m3000 is not being released.

i will however try and find out.

cheers

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

thank you for all your help.

btw do you know which networks in the UK already have EDGE up and running?

i tried to find info on t-mobile but couldn't find anything...

thanks

[Guest SkUk21]

just orange i believe!

[Guest ADS Entertainments]

What is EDGE as I am in the SW

[Guest SkUk21]

EDGE is a new modulation scheme that is more bandwidth efficient than the Gaussian pre-filtered minimum shift keying (GMSK) modulation scheme used in the GSM standard. It provides a promising migration strategy for GPRS. The technology defines a new physical layer of an 8 Phase Shift Keying modulation (8PSK), instead of GMSK. 8PSK enables each pulse to carry 3 bits of information versus GPRS/GMSK?s 1 bit per pulse rate. Thus, EDGE has the potential to increase the data rate of existing GSM systems by a factor of three. For this reason EDGE requires a hardware upgrade of the RF part in the base stations.

[Guest dazza12]

thank you for all your help.

btw do you know which networks in the UK already have EDGE up and running?

i tried to find info on t-mobile but couldn't find anything...

thanks

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

TMobile are in testing, and are expected to launch at some point soon, however strangely it's only Virgin to use this at first. Vodafone are also testing at a few sites - one of my clients have a cell tower on top of their building and are currently testing EDGE enabled HP devices on Vodafone.

The reason the M3000 isn't being launched on Orange is because it would be obsolete by the time EDGE is out of testing with Orange and rolled out to all cell towers.

No information on O2 I'm afraid.

For further information, there's a PDF data sheet at the site the EDGE description was cut and pasted from - Vocal Technologies.

[Guest leshemnoam]

The reason the M3000 isn't being launched on Orange is because it would be obsolete by the time EDGE is out of testing with Orange and rolled out to all cell towers.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

thank you for the info.

I am sorry but I don't agree with you. the c600 has EDGE (as far as I can tell)and is being released. the M3000 looks like a gr8 device even without the use of EDGE, plus with the time it takes orange to release phones they are all obsolete by the time they hit the market ;)

[Guest dazza12]

thank you for the info.

I am sorry but I don't agree with you. the c600 has EDGE (as far as I can tell)and is being released. the M3000 looks like a gr8 device even without the use of EDGE, plus with the time it takes orange to release phones they are all obsolete by the time they hit the market ;)

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yes, the C600 has EDGE. Orange sell many more Smartphones than Pocket PC Phones, and therefore it makes commercial sense to launch the C600 even without an EDGE network, as it still uses GPRS. Plus, it's the first WM5 smartphone.

Orange already have a couple of PPC phones on the market, and the M3000 would only crowd this. Added to that, they have a device that uses 3G, which is much faster than EDGE. There's no information to whether the nearest device, the M500 is actually discontinued or just removed from their systems due to stock issues. It would simply not make any commercial sense for Orange to release a phone that would sell 500 units at the most.

[Guest SkUk21]

It would simply not make any commercial sense for Orange to release a phone that would sell 500 units at the most.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

thats a rather bold statement to make! i am sure there are more than 500 people on this forum alone to buy the M3000!

i had the XDA Exec but it was simply not pratical due to its huge size. the m3000 would make perfect sense to launch as an alternative to the m5000 for people who do not want such a big device.

[Guest steve_smith]

thats a rather bold statement to make! i am sure there are more than 500 people on this forum alone to buy the M3000!

And from Orange's point of view, this is bad news, because I suspect that many of those 500 people have already left Orange and joined T-Mobile to get their hands on the Vario (M3000's stablemate).

Mine is due to arrive today ;)

I got put through to retentions when I cancelled my Orange contract, they did say they could do some super deal on the M5000, but it's just too big for me (I already carry a small notebook PC around with me... I don't need another laptop). If I wanted a WM5 device right there and then, the M5000 was the only thing Orange could offer (except from vague indications that the C600 was due out, but no definite date).

At least T-Mobile could offer me a choice of two handsets.

Steve.

[Guest SkUk21]

my point exactly Steve!

as an orange employee, its such a shame really - but not much i can do about it i'm afraid!

[Guest dazza12]

What I meant was that the PPC range with Orange is pretty crowded at the moment - for a company that doesn't normally sell many of them (compared to O2). 2 PPC devices have been launched in the last couple of months, the M5000 and the Alpine-based device, and the M2000 is still available.

500 may have been a wild estimate, but without a launched EDGE network, it really doesn't offer anything that stands out above the other items in the range. Can you see Orange offering it's features as a selling point without having an EDGE network to back it up?

The few that have posted about the M3000 may want the features that it offers, but many of these are covered by other phones in the range - WM5 on the M5000, form factor of the M500 (even though it's not available right now), keyboard and WiFi on the M2000 and M5000. Add to that the forthcoming C600, offering WM5 on a smartphone. Smartphones are where Orange lead the market in the UK, the M3000 is likely to eat into some sales of this device.

However, that doesn't mean to say it'll never reach the UK. Remember that O2 launched the HTC Alpine as the XDA 2i earlier this year. For some reason, Orange chose to wait until very recently to release this device, and now it looks dated.